PRO FOOTBALL; Pennington Is Back as the Starter, But Martin Has a Long Way to Go

By KAREN CROUSE

Published: August 30, 2006

It was pure folly what Chad Pennington was trying to do, the medical equivalent of completing a 70-yard pass for the winning touchdown as time expired.

Few quarterbacks have returned to fine fettle after having one operation on their throwing shoulder. There is no anecdotal evidence of any player coming back as good as new after two. It was Pennington's obsession to prove that it could be done, and Tuesday, his determination and stubborn self-belief were rewarded.

Less than a year after having surgery on his rotator cuff for the second time in eight months, Pennington was named the starting quarterback for the 2006 season by the Jets' first-year coach, Eric Mangini.

The good news was mitigated by Mangini's other announcement -- that Curtis Martin, the veteran running back whose 2005 season ended in December with surgery on his right knee, would not be ready to play by the Sept. 10 season opener at Tennessee.

Martin, 33, was placed on the physically unable to perform list at the start of training camp, and he will remain there through the first six weeks of the regular season.

After that, his condition will be reassessed and the Jets will have six more weeks to decide if he should be activated or placed on injured reserve. If Martin were to be placed on injured reserve, it would essentially signify his retirement.

Convention holds that a 33-year-old running back with an arthritic knee who has not practiced in nine months is already done. But Martin, whose streak of 119 consecutive regular-season starts was snapped last year, is not one to concede defeat, especially when the opponent is an injury.

''That's what life is about, overcoming odds,'' Martin said. ''I've made it this far doing it, and I don't plan on quitting.''

He was standing by his locker as he spoke, his back turned to a typewritten schedule taped to his cubicle that offered a rough sketch of how long a road to recovery he was facing. On one day, his first rehab appointment is at 6:30 a.m. and his last is at 9 p.m.

Martin finds himself at an awkward crossroads, where his mind is not able to contemplate retirement and his body is not able to consider playing.

''I wasn't quite expecting that from the surgery that I'd still be talking about this,'' Martin said. ''But it's happened. I've always been good at accepting what is. And it's just something that is. Some things are out of your control. I've just been trying to do everything that is within my control to get out there as soon as possible.''

Retirement, Martin said, was not on his agenda. ''Whenever that happens, it happens,'' he said. ''My mind's just not there.''

Martin was named rookie of the year in 1995 with the New England Patriots and won the rushing title in his last full season, in 2004. Last season he moved into fourth place on the N.F.L. career rushing list.

''The commitment that I have to the team is what keeps me going,'' Martin said.

Pennington, who beat out the veteran Patrick Ramsey, the rookie Kellen Clemens and last year's contingency starter, Brooks Bollinger, was asked what kept him going when many others suspected he was done. ''My passion for the game was my No. 1 drive,'' he said.

In the spring, people in the Jets organization were guarded about Pennington's prospects for a full recovery. They couched their concerns by saying, If anybody can come back from this, it's Chad.

Pennington's leadership stood out in the minicamps; his timing and rhythm with his receivers, especially Laveranues Coles, was evident in Friday's game against the Giants. That Pennington led the first unit on 10 drives that produced no points in two preseason games is viewed by Mangini as more of a collective concern than a quarterback crisis.

''He has made great progress throughout the preseason, especially over the last couple of weeks,'' Mangini said. ''That consistency that I look for has been there, and his presence and his ability to move the team.''

His teammates know how hard Pennington has worked to make throwing look easy again. ''We're all proud of him and we're happy for him,'' Coles said. ''If you had left it up to him, I think, in my mind, he probably would have tried to come back last year. That's the competitor he is.

''With him having the time off and then having the skepticism of people not believing in him, I think that pretty much basically gave him that extra motivation, that edge, to come back and show people, 'Look, I can do it and I'm going to be successful.' ''

Now it falls on Martin to show the skeptics they are wrong. ''I think with Curtis, odds don't really apply,'' Mangini said. ''He's a unique person. I think you have to look at the person as much as anything else.''

EXTRA POINTS

Defensive lineman Kimo von Oelhoffen said he was not aware that Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer returned to action Monday for the first time since sustaining a knee injury when he was sacked by von Oelhoffen in a playoff game against the Steelers last season. ''I'm really happy to see him respond the way he has,'' von Oelhoffen said. Center Trey Teague was activated from the physically unable to perform list.

Photos: Chad Pennington was named the starting quarterback for the Jets yesterday. (Photo by Chris Livingston for The New York Times)(pg. D1); Curtis Martin, who will remain on the physically unable to perform list through the first six weeks of the season, may be forced to retire. (Photo by Ed Betz/Associated Press)(pg. D3)